1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer networking, and in particular to a method and apparatus for enabling a device configured as a network proxy to perform a predetermined action in response to dynamic input.
2. Related Art
It is known to deploy a network proxy, or proxy server, as an intermediary between one or more client computers and an external network such as the Internet. Network proxies are described generally in Ian S. Graham, HTML Source Book: A Complete Guide to HTML 3.0 403 (2d ed. 1996). Most existing network proxies, however, lack any ability for command processing or dynamic configuration. Instead, network proxies are typically preconfigured using static control panels and settings stored in, for example, ".INI" files or MS-Windows registry entries. These settings remain unchanged for as long as the network proxy is running. Moreover, such network proxies lack any facility for dynamically receiving and acting upon commands or instructions that would effect a reconfiguration of the network proxy. This is because network proxies have typically been used only as a pipeline. For example, a network proxy used for World-Wide Web (WWW) access simply passes HTTP requests received from a client computer to a server computer capable of servicing that request. Likewise, content which the network proxy receives from the server computer in response to such a request is simply passed to the requesting client computer. In other words, the network proxy does not inspect content passing through it.
In view of the foregoing limitations of existing technology, there is a need for a network proxy capable of acting upon information passed to it, whether it be a command embedded in a request originated by a client computer or content provided by a server computer. Although such dynamic control of network proxies is desirable, it is impractical to expect the expansive Internet infrastructure to quickly change to accommodate such a new capability. For this reason, it is desirable to implement this new capability in a way that does not require changes to existing client computers or server computers.